If You Marry Me, Would You... (Frerard)

"So where are we going?" Frank asked as the two sat inside Gerard's car, driving through the clouded streets. It was about to rain soon, but for now, the weather seemed calm enough.

It was a late morning hour. During small glances at the man sitting in the driver's seat, Frank started wondering about a few things. Nothing important, just some doubts and passing thoughts.

"Starbucks," Gerard simply replied.

"But we only drank your coffee 2 hours ago." Frank raised an eyebrow.

"Well that was just to wake you up. I'm taking you to Starbucks for some real coffee. You deserve that for almost getting killed yesterday."

Frank nodded quietly and turned to look out of the window like he had done in the last 10 minutes of their car ride.

"Do you like coffee?"

"I BREATHE coffee, Frank," Gerard said casually, but the words made the boy chuckle. Gerard thought it was cute, but didn't say a thing about it. He couldn't even remember the last time he found anything cute, so that was more than new to him.

Somewhere in his mind, he was starting to have hopes that besides this whole "protecting" thing, him and Frank could actually get along.

"Well, that's nice to know," Frank said, the smile still on his face.

After few minutes of silence and playing with the scarf Gerard gave him to cover the bite mark, along with the questions that didn't stop going through Frank's mind, he decided to try and get at least a bit of information about Gerard, since they pretty much lived together now.

How much would Gerard let him find out on their first day of knowing each other? He had no idea. But no one said he couldn't at least try.

"So... I thought about something," he said, slightly wondering how he is going to put it out. Gerard raised an eyebrow under his sunglasses to let Frank know he was listening. "You're a vampire..." he paused for a second, a bit unsure how to continue this question.

"Well that's an interesting observation. I didn't think you'd be smart enough to realize it," Gerard said with a smirk, his eyes still on the road.

"That's not what I meant, jerk," Frank rolled his eyes playfully. "I mean like, you're a vampire... and it's daylight, then..."

"Ugh. Please don't tell me you believe in that bullshit," Gerard groaned. Frank gave him a confused look. "Vampires don't melt in the sun. Okay? We don't bite... anymore, we don't shapeshift, we don't live forever, we don't wear capes, and we can definitely get killed in other ways then heart staking. I've heard it all, believe me, and none of that is true."

"Oh," Frank said quietly. He didn't mean to upset Gerard, he was just curious.

"Shit, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap. You can ask questions if you want, it won't happen again," Gerard tried to lighten the mood. Frank let out a quiet sigh of relief. The last thing he wanted was for Gerard to get angry.

"Okay. So... what's your favorite kind of coffee?" He asked, still a bit unsure, but at least he felt safer to talk.

"Hazelnut Latte," Gerard replied, a small smile appearing on his face at the thought of his favorite beverage in the world. Frank chuckled.

"Mine too," he beamed. "I guess we have something in common already."

"Well, the fact I'm protecting you from vampires doesn't mean we shouldn't get along," Gerard said as they pulled up outside Starbucks and undid their seat belts before stepping out of the car.

"I think we're getting along pretty well so far," Frank said honestly.

"Me too," Gerard gave him a simple smile, and they walked into the store.

xoxoxoxo

"So... apart from your younger brother, do you have any other family?" Frank asked as they they were facing each other in a small booth in the corner, both holding warm, half-filled cups of Hazelnut Latte they were calmly sipping.

"No. My parents died when I was young," was all he said. And he told himself that it would be the furthest he will let Frank get.

At least for now.

Frank listened carefully. He could see Gerard about to say something else, anything, but stopped himself. And Frank didn't question the subject any further. As he said, the last thing he would want is to get a vampire mad.

"So why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?" Gerard asked, sipping his coffee quietly. The younger looked up at him. It was nice to see his eyes, after he took those sunglasses off. His eyes were pretty, and they shone. Frank could stare at them for hours.

"Well, what do you want to know?" He asked and mirrored the action of bringing the mug up to his lips.

"Anything. How old are you?"

"24. You?"

"28. I'll be turning 29 soon."

Frank nodded. Gerard seemed younger than that.

"Have you been to college?"

Frank shook his head. "No. Went there at first, but I dropped off. Couldn't afford it."

"And what about your family? Any siblings?"

"One older brother and one younger sister. Neither them or my parents liked me though, so as soon as I was able to move out, I did."

"Why didn't they like you?" Gerard heard himself asking. He didn't think he'd ever be interested in someone else's life, but there he was, questioning Frank about his life. Because he actually wanted to know.

"Because I was gay," the younger shrugged. Gerard raised his eyebrows. He covered it quickly. "And because I didn't want to be a goddamn doctor or something. They thought I brought shame to the family. None of them bothered talking to me after I left the city."

Gerard nodded slowly. He seemed thoughtful for a few seconds, coffee still in hand.

"Well, I guess family issues is another thing we have in common. But you'll never be worse than me."

"I'm sure of that," Frank said seriously.

The rest of their time there was spent quietly. They didn't bother asking any more questions. It could wait. After all, only god knew how long they would have to spend with each other. They would have plenty of time to ask and discover. But until then, they had their morning coffee in the small Starbucks.

xoxoxoxo

"How did you get the money to move out?" Gerard asked suddenly. Frank shook himself out of his small daydream and looked over at the driver's seat, where the other man's eyes were focused on the road, but his eyebrows were raised showing he was waiting for an answer.

Frank only shrugged in response. "Worked at strip clubs, bars, any place that would hire me really. I started saving money since I was 16, and once I turned 18 I found that flat in Newark, it was cheap enough for me to afford, so I moved here."

Gerard listened to the story thoughtfully. It was almost weird how he always looked this way, always thinking, always considering things. Frank wanted to ask him about that, but he already got enough information about the man in one day. His endless other questions could wait.

They pulled out in front of Gerard's distant apartment. As Frank was undoing his seat belt, leaving the car and closing the door behind him, he looked at it. He didn't really get to see this place properly until now. When Gerard had brought him there last night he was half dead, and when they left in the morning he didn't really took the time to notice it.

But it wasn't so special. It was just the door and a white wall. The apartment had only one story, and it made sense since Gerard lived alone.

The two stepped quietly through the door Gerard had unlocked. They walked calmly through the corridor (which was also painted in soft yellow, matching every other wall in Gerard's house), and Frank glanced into the small kitchen to their right. It was nice, he thought. Gerard's house was nice.

At the end of the corridor they turned left, into the bedroom, which was the biggest room in the house.

Each one of them sat down on his side of the bed.

"So what do you like to do in your free time?" Gerard asked, pulling Frank out of his thoughts once again.

"Well... I used to play guitar since I was a kid. That and my clothes were all I took with me when I moved out," Frank replied.

He watched as Gerard's face lit up, and then he was looking at Frank with a soft smile.
"I think I have a guitar here."

"You play?"

"No. I don't know how. But I found it on the streets a while ago, and thought someone would buy it someday if I decided to sell it. Do you want me to bring it over?"

Frank nodded eagerly, and with that Gerard stood up and left the room.

Frank smiled at the ground at the thought of getting to play guitar again. God, he missed it so much. He didn't allow himself to play for weeks. Work and all these other problems he had always kept him from having free time.

Gerard stepped back into the room with a small acoustic guitar. Frank's eyes opened wide at how utterly beautiful it was.

The older man reached his hand forward, gesturing for the boy to take the guitar, and he did, with shaking hands.

"It's, it's beautiful," Frank murmured as he placed the guitar on his lap and began moving his fingers gently over the brown clean wood and along the strings.

When he tried playing though, his face scrunched up in a way Gerard tried his hardest not to laugh at.

"Everything alright?" He asked seriously.

"Yeah. The guitar still needs a bit of tuning, since no one played it in a long while, but I can fix it up." Frank explained casually and then beamed up at Gerard. "Thank you."

The elder nodded with a small smile, and then left Frank with the guitar and went to his desk to draw.

Once he opened one of his sketch books in a clear page, they both zoned out from each other again, each one minding his own things, Gerard deep in his drawing (he decided a meadow would look nice), as Frank was tuning the guitar for a few minutes until it sounded right, and then relaxed into the music and just let his fingers dance along to chords he remembered hearing.

xoxoxoxo

They spent the rest of the afternoon like this. Gerard left in the middle of his work to make some lunch, and for dinner they ate pizza in front of the tv Gerard had near the counter in the kitchen.

When it was time to go to bed, the men crawled under the covers, each one in his own half, and laid there facing each other quietly.

"Do vampires even need sleep?" Frank frowned thoughtfully. Gerard shrugged.

"Well, we don't NEED it. But it's nice from time to time. Helps you clear your mind."

Frank nodded. After a few minutes of silence they turned around at the same time so they had their back to the other and closed their eyes.

xoxoxoxo

Frank fell asleep quickly, but Gerard felt uneasy. Something was bothering him. Something was poking his senses. Something was coming.

He sensed Michael.

Notes

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Stay amazing, and I'll see you next time.

Xoxo<3

[May 22nd, 2017]